CSEC Biology Notes

Natural Selection

Natural selection is the process by which a population retains those genes that make it adaptable
to its habitat. Natural selection typically maintains favorable changes. Connect genetic variety to
natural selection (variation acts as a template for natural selection to work on). Natural selection
is the mechanism through which populations of living creatures adapt and evolve over time.
Individuals in a population are inherently varied, which means they differ in certain respects.
This variance indicates that some people have qualities that are more adapted to their
environment than others.
Evolution: the change in the genetic composition of a population over successive generations
The English naturalist Charles Darwin developed the idea of natural selection after a five-year
voyage to study plants, animals, and fossils in South America and on islands in the Pacific. In
1859, he brought the idea of natural selection to the attention of the world in his best-selling
book, On the Origin of Species. Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, first spoke about natural
selection. He observed organisms that lived on the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean. From
his observations, Darwin concluded that within a population, although many offspring are
produced, many individuals do not survive because they:
● Compete for limited food and resources;
● Try to avoid predators;
● Struggle to avoid disease;
● Try to tolerate changes in the environment.

From 1831 to 1836, Darwin traveled around the world,

observing animals on different continents and islands. On
the Galapagos Islands, Darwin observed several species of
finches with unique beak shapes. He observed that these
finches closely resembled another finch species on the
mainland of South America and that the group of species
in the Galápagos formed a graded series of beak sizes and
shapes, with very small differences between the most
similar. Darwin imagined that the island species might be
all species modified from one original mainland species. In
1860, he wrote, “Seeing this gradation and diversity of
structure in one small, intimately related group of birds,
one might really fancy that from an original paucity of
birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and
modified for different ends.”
CSEC Biology Notes

Image shows species of finches in the

Galapagos
Darwin noticed numerous kinds
of finches (now known as Darwin's
finches) during his visit to the Galapagos
Islands. This archipelago of islands is
located in the Pacific Ocean,
approximately 600 miles from South
America's continent. He came to the
conclusion that the islands were
inhabited by a few members of a species
existing on the mainland. These people
then developed in their own right to fill
the various ecological niches on each
island. The Galapagos Islands now
include 14 different species of finches,
which vary widely in size and other
characteristics like beak size and shape.
Note
An ecological niche is the role an organism plays in an ecosystem.
The Caribbean Islands are a series of volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The West
Indies are an arc of islands that extends north and west from the South American mainland. It has
been proposed that the West Indian Anolis lizards developed in a manner similar to Darwin's
finches. A few individuals may have floated (for example, on a log) through a South American
water current and arrived on the banks of Grenada (the most plausible arrival place for a rafting
colonist). The original species might be found in Guyana, Venezuela, or northwestern Brazil. The
colonization of other nearby islands followed, including St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Martinique,
Barbados, La Blanquilla, and Bonaire, far to the west of the main chain. in the southern Lesser
Antilles. The Caribbean Islands are a volcanic group. Each group would have been exposed to a
unique set of environmental variables. The vegetation, insect population, air temperature, and
weather patterns vary on each island. Natural selection would have resulted in each population
evolving individually, adapting to each new ecological niche. The populations would have
diverged over time, resulting in the evolution of nine distinct species.
CSEC Biology Notes

Image of Anolis lizards

There is a perpetual struggle for survival, and those who are most adapted to their
surroundings have an edge. That is, they are more likely to live and procreate. Their progeny will
carry on the favourable traits, and the population will stay well suited to its environment. The
process of selection by the environment is known as "natural selection." It prefers those who
have the finest adaptability to their surroundings. These creatures are believed to benefit from
selection. These people are sometimes referred to as the fittest for the surroundings. As a result,
natural selection has come to be characterized as "survival of the fittest."

Natural selection and evolution

Natural selection provides the mechanism for one species to change into another. The change is
very slow and is called evolution, as one species evolves into another.
CSEC Biology Notes

Long necks of Giraffes

Image shows long neck evolution in Giraffes

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria
Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a serious problem. When antibiotics are used on a population
of bacteria, any bacteria with the genes to resist the drug will survive, and most of the rest will be
killed. The resistant bacteria then multiply, producing populations of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Because of the widespread use of antibiotics like penicillin, many kinds of bacteria are now
resistant to these drugs.
Insects that are resistant to insecticides have evolved in much the same way as
antibiotic-resistant bacteria, due to the widespread use of insecticides.
(For example)
Many populations of mosquitoes are now resistant to DDT, which was widely used last century
to attempt to control them and the spread of malaria.
CSEC Biology Notes

Dark form of the peppered moth

The peppered moth (Biston betularia) is distributed across England. It was discovered in a pale
form, largely camouflaged by the lichen-covered trees on which it lay. The moth was difficult to
notice for predators. Then, from the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, pollution in
industrial districts stained the tree trunks with soot. Predators could now see the pale moths, but
the uncommon black version was better concealed. As a result of being better adapted to the
environment, the frequency (numbers) of the dark forms increased. The pale form still
predominates in unpolluted places. Today, as industrial pollution reduces, the pale variety is
becoming more prevalent than the dark type.

Image of pepper moths before and after adapting to the change in the city’s environment
CSEC Biology Notes

Mutation
A mutation is a change in the amount or number of chromosomes, or a change in the structure of
the chromosome or DNA of an organism. It results in a change in the genotype of an organism.
An example of a gene mutation is sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia is caused by a mutation
in the gene that tells your body to make the iron-rich compound that makes blood red and
enables red blood cells to carry oxygen from your lungs throughout your body
(hemoglobin).Down's syndrome is an illustration of a chromosomal mutation that alters the
number of chromosomes. Trisomy 21 (often referred to as Down syndrome) is a genetic disease
brought on by the presence of all or a portion of a third copy of chromosome 21. Physical growth
delays, mild to severe intellectual handicaps, and distinctive facial traits are frequently connected
with it. You cannot precisely forecast where or when a change will occur since mutation happens
randomly.

Image showing sickle-cell anemia and normal red blood cells

CSEC Biology Notes

Image showing Down's Syndrome

Causes of mutation are:

● exposure to high-energy electromagnetic radiation like X-rays, ultraviolet light and
gamma (g) rays;
● exposure to certain chemicals like mustard gas, caffeine, formaldehyde, colchicine, tar in
tobacco, an increasing number of drugs, food preservatives and pesticides. Any substance
or process that increases the frequency of mutation is described as mutagenic.
A mutation in a bodily cell is lost when the organism dies and is not transmitted or passed on to
children. However, it can be passed along if it develops in a gamete cell. This may increase
population diversity. The progeny of sexual reproduction inherently differ due to the
chromosomes' random crossing over and alignment on the cell's equator before anaphase. A new
variety may be brought about via an inherited mutation. It's fresh knowledge that the mutation
caused the chromosome to alter. It might lead to an organismal trait that is either favorable or
detrimental. The majority of significant mutations are bad.
CSEC Biology Notes

References
Carroll, Sean B.; Grenier, Jennifer K.; Weatherbee, Scott D. (2005). From DNA to Diversity:
Molecular Genetics and the Evolution of Animal Design – Second Edition. Blackwell
Publishing. pp. 66–67.

Darwin, Charles (1859). On the Origin of Species (1st edition). Chapter 4, page 88. "And this
leads me to say a few words on what I call Sexual Selection.

Gavrilets, S. (2004), Fitness Landscapes and the Origin of Species, Princeton University Press.

Hosken, David J.; House, Clarissa M. ( 2011). "Sexual Selection". Current Biology. 21 (2):
R62–R65.

Kryukov, Gregory V.; Schmidt, Steffen; Sunyaev, Shamil (2005). "Small fitness effect of
mutations in highly conserved non-coding regions".